Exxon and Rosneft? a $500 billion joint venture in 2011 to drill for oil on the Arctic shelf and the Black Sea and another huge deal to develop shale oil deposits in Siberia. Those projects were shelved in 2014, after the West imposed sanctions on Russia for Mr. Putin’s actions in Crimea and Ukraine. Source: NYTimes & The Wall Street Journal

According to company filings this year, Mr. Tillerson owned $218 million in Exxon Mobil company stock, and his pension plan was worth nearly $70 million. Source: NYTimes His 2.6 million shares of Exxon = $228 million value in early December Source: Bloomberg

expected to encourage the permitting of the Keystone XL Pipeline and to try to smooth relationships with Mexico City due to Mexico's growing natural gas market. Source: NYtimes

some energy experts believe he may encourage Trump to support Paris Climate Agreement with emphasis on natural gas and ways to bury carbon waste. Source: NYtimes & Time

Last year, he was paid a base salary of $3,047,000, with $2,386,000 in a cash bonus and $18,288,000 in stock. Source: CBSNews & Tillerson was paid $27.3 million in salary, bonus, stock awards and other compensation in 2015 Source: Bloomberg

He faces mandatory retirement next year, when he reaches his 65th birthday Source: CBSNews & WSJ

Tillerson holds 2 million unvested ExxonMobil stocks, that can not be sold and the last of which only fully vests in 2026. Source: CBSNews & WSJ

As CEO of ExxonMobil (since 2006), Tillerson is on Forbes' most powerful people list (No. 20 in 2015 and No. 24 in 2016). Source: Forbes

Leaked documents on 12/18/2016 reveal Tillerson is director of US-Russian oil company based in the Bahamas. Source: CommonDreams.org

According to Federal Election Commission filings, he donated $50,000 to Mitt Romney's presidential victory fund in 2012 and gave $5,000 to Right to Rise, a super PAC backing Jeb Bush, in August 2015. But his FEC records do not show any donations to Trump during the 2016 campaign. Source: ABCNews

Republican Senators with concerns about his nomination

Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.): "The one obvious red flag for Tillerson is Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is also a member of Foreign Relations, where only one Republican vote would endanger the nomination. Rubio expressed “serious concerns” and vowed to ensure a “thorough” vetting of the nominee on the committee.

'The next secretary of state must be someone who views the world with moral clarity, is free of potential conflicts of interest, has a clear sense of America’s interests,' Rubio said."

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who wants a bipartisan investigation of Russian influence on the U.S. elections, said he expects “U.S.-Russia relations to be front-and-center in his confirmation process.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) “I don’t know what Mr. Tillerson’s relationship with Vladimir Putin was, but I’ll tell you it is a matter of concern to me,”

Exxon conflicts

ExxonMobil is planning to resume operations in Russia after sanctions are lifted. Reuters

"The August 2011, OAO NK Rosneft and ExxonMobil concluded a strategic cooperation agreement to establish the framework for joint oil exploration and production in Russia, the United States and other countries. Since the signing of the strategic cooperation agreement, Rosneft and ExxonMobil have formed 10 joint ventures for projects in the Russian Arctic, the Black Sea and western Siberia."Exxon Mobil business in Russia from Exxon Mobil site

Billions of dollars are at stake for ExxonMobil in one of Trump's biggest foreign policy decisions in the next few years and Tillerson's ties to Russia and oil are potentially huge conflicts of interest.vox.com(See also Conflicts of Interest, Russia, Department of State)

A handful of senior U.S. diplomats are resigning their posts during President Donald Trump’s first week on the job, creating more high-level openings that the new president must fill.

2017.01.26

The State Department’s entire senior administrative team, all career foreign service officers who've served under both Republican and Democratic administrations, just resigned.washingtonpost.com(See also Department of State)

Using a rarely invoked law that gives Congress the power to reverse regulations within 60 legislative days with a simple majority, the Republican-controlled Congress nullifies a measure intended to curb the venting of gas wells on federal lands, and begins rolling back other regulations, including one enacted to limit damage that coal mines cause to streams.nytimes.com(See also First 100 Days, Energy, Environment, Conflicts of Interest)

2017.02.16

New U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meets Russian counterpart at meeting on G20 foreign ministers summit in first high level contact between Russia and Washington since the inauguration.theguardian.com(See also Department of State, Russia)

State Dept. lays off most of the career diplomats who serve as conduits between the Secretary's office and country bureaus in a move that many view as a sign that key foreign policy portfolios will be controlled directly by the White House.cbsnews.com(See also Foreign Policy, Department of State)

2017.02.22

Rex W. Tillerson arrives in Mexico with twin threats hanging over the frayed relationship between the two nations: Trump’s new orders to round up and deport immigrants who are in the United States illegally, and a separate effort to examine American aid to Mexico for possible use in paying for a border wall.nytimes.com(See also Department of State, First 100 Days, Mexico, Mexico Wall, Immigration)

The Trump administration has largely benched the State Department from its long-standing role as the pre­eminent voice of U.S. foreign policy, curtailing public engagement, daily briefings, and official travel and keeping Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a mostly offstage role.washingtonpost.com(See also Department of State, First 100 Days)

2017.03.10

Secretary of State is normally the most important position in the cabinet, but Rex Tillerson has had little impact on the Trump administration so far due to a lack of power coming from any of the five typical sources: backing from the president, advice and support from his or her department’s career officials, admiration from and alliances with other leaders in the government, praise from the press and public, and positive evaluations of his or her competence and power by foreign diplomats.foreignpolicy.com(See also Department of State)

In a letter to several major nonprofits dated March 8, 2017, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the United States will not continue participating in the Human Rights Council unless the U.N. rights agency undergoes "considerable reform."bigstory.ap.org(See also United Nations)

2017.03.17

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said pre-emptive military action was "on the table" if the threat from the North's weapons program reached a level requiring it.bbc.com(See also North Korea)

Rex Tillerson says he didn't want the job as Secretary of State but his wife told him he was supposed to take it.theguardian.com(See also First 100 Days)

2017.03.29

Rex Tillerson notifies Congress and The State Department he intends to waive human rights conditions attached to the sale of fighter jets to Bahrain.cnn.com(See also Department of State)

2017.03.30

Nikki Haley and Rex Tillerson say the U.S. diplomatic policy on Syria is no longer focused on making the war-torn country's president, Bashar al-Assad, leave power. This puts the Trump administration at odds with European powers.reuters.com(See also United Nations, Syria, Nikki Haley)

2017.06.05

When Trump addressed NATO leaders during his debut overseas, he surprised and disappointed his own top national security officials by failing to reaffirm the Article 5 provision in his speech.politico.com(See also Foreign Policy, James Mattis, H.R. McMaster)

Dozens of young minority and female State Department recruits received startling news that they would not be able to soon join the Foreign Service despite having been promised that opportunity.washingtonpost.com(See also Department of State)

2017.06.27

The White House issued a statement Monday evening threatening to exact "a heavy price" in response to a potential chemical attack by the Syrian government, but senior national security officials were caught off guard and had no idea a statement was coming that threatened military action - a major step.nbcnews.com(See also Administration Errors, Syria, Department of State, Nikki Haley)

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has failed to nominate anyone to most of the department’s 38 highest-ranking jobs, leaving many critical departments without direction or a coherent foreign policy.nytimes.com(See also Assaults on Government, Department of State)

2017.10.01

Donald Trump undercut his own secretary of state, calling his effort to open lines of communication with North Korea a waste of time, and seeming to rule out a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear-edged confrontation with Pyongyang, just a day after Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said he was reaching out in hopes of starting a new dialogue.nytimes.com(See also Department of State, North Korea, Unpresidential Behavior, Nuclear Weapons)

2017.10.04

Republican Senator Bob Corker told reporters he thinks "Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Mattis, and Chief of Staff Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos."axios.com(See also James Mattis, John Kelly)

2017.10.04

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was on the verge of resigning this past summer amid mounting policy disputes and clashes with the White House, openly disparaging Donald Trump, referring to him as a "moron."nbcnews.com(See also Department of State)

The White House has developed a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose relationship with Donald Trump has been strained, and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, perhaps within the next several weeks.nytimes.com(See also Department of State, Mike Pompeo, Trump Cabinet)

A transition plan would install Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, as secretary of state, and tap Senator Tom Cotton to lead the spy agency.

An award-winning U.S. diplomat who was seen as a rising star at the State Department has issued a scathing resignation letter, accusing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the Donald Trump administration of undercutting the State Department and damaging America’s influence in the world.foreignpolicy.com(See also Foreign Policy, Department of State)

2017.12.11

Despite the deaths of as many as half a million people in the Syrian civil war, the Trump Administration is now prepared to accept President Bashar al-Assad’s continued rule until Syria’s next scheduled Presidential election, in 2021, reversingrepeated U.S. statements that Assad must step down as part of a peace process.newyorker.com(See also Russia, Syria, Reversals, Foreign Policy, Iran)

State Department officials have been ordered to pare back passages in a soon-to-be-released annual report on global human rights that traditionally discuss women’s reproductive rights and discrimination, stripping passages that describe views on family planning, contraceptives, abortion, as well as racial, ethnic, and sexual discrimination.politico.com(See also Department of State, Women)

The move reflects the Tillerson-Trump view of human rights as a low priority in foreign policy.

As a result, not one of the 23 analysts working in the department’s Global Engagement Center — which has been tasked with countering Moscow’s disinformation campaign — speaks Russian, and a department hiring freeze has hindered efforts to recruit the computer experts needed to track the Russian efforts.

A cooperating witness in the special counsel investigation worked for more than a year to turn a top Trump fund-raiser into an instrument of influence at the White House for the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.nytimes.com(See also Saudi Arabia, Corruption, Department of State, Iran)

High on the agenda of the two men — George Nader, a political adviser to the de facto ruler of the U.A.E., and Elliott Broidy, the deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee — was pushing the White House to remove Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, backing confrontational approaches to Iran and Qatar and repeatedly pressing the president to meet privately outside the White House with the leader of the U.A.E.

Mr. Pruitt is the fifth cabinet-level official to be forced out or resign since Mr. Trump took office in January 2017.

2018.12.07

In an interview with CBS News, former secretary of state Rex Tillerson said of his time with Donald Trump, “What was challenging for me coming from the disciplined, highly process-oriented ExxonMobil corporation, to go to work for a man who is pretty undisciplined, doesn’t like to read, doesn’t read briefing reports, doesn’t like to get into the details of a lot of things, but rather just kind of says, ‘This is what I believe.’ ”washingtonpost.com(See also Department of State)

Assessments

Clifford Krauss — The New York Times

David L. Goldwyn, the State Department’s top energy diplomat during the first Obama administration, commenting on Trump's choice: "He has definitely decided to do a reverse Nixon and side with Russia against China. He thinks we probably can make common cause with Russia in Syria but also in Libya, and he doesn’t have a problem supporting strongmen."

"Mr. Tillerson is not always easy to define. Deeply conservative and committed to the Boy Scouts of America, he quietly pushed the organization to be open to gay rights. But under his leadership, Exxon was slow to adopt explicit policies protecting gay employees from discrimination.

Terry Gross — Fresh Air on NPR

"ExxonMobil is a very large corporation that really sees itself as an independent sovereign in the world. It has revenue the size of the economy of South Africa. It operates all over the world, negotiating with leaders on behalf of its shareholders. It's kind of a parallel quasi-state."

Fred Kaplan — Slate

Kaplan points out Tillerson's role in pushing the Boy Scouts of America to accept gays:

"Gates and Tillerson both supported the move to allow gays into the scouts."

Justin Worland — Time

"Tillerson, who first joined Exxon in 1975 upon graduating from college, accepts the scientific consensus that man-made climate change is occurring, but also has a vested financial interest in avoiding strong action to address global warming. The company he runs remains under investigation for misleading investors on the risks of climate change for decades to avoid harming its business."

Bill McKibben – The Guardian

"All in all, it’s hard to imagine a single hire that could do more damage to the planet (though the rest of Trump’s cabinet will doubtless give him a run for his money). Making this man secretary of state rewards climate denial, further warps our foreign policy towards oil and does it at the precise moment when every bit of data screams that we should be going in the opposite direction.

"The only consolation is that it removes all the window-dressing. Big Oil will run our foreign policy, right out in the open."